Rise of the Legions
by The Halfa Wannabe
Summary: Their race was withering, dying. With all but a few left there was no time to find a proper new master, no time to worry about evil, only survival. Enter their new master, a crazy kid with a penchant for chaos, and an abnormal love of the color orange. Will evil find a way?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own characters or concepts from either Naruto or Overlord. I only play with them for my (and your) amusement.

The beast looked into the water collecting in the dish showing the outside world, , it has been centuries since his last master, their armies had withered and died, he was one of the last.

He couldn't make more, he was fragile, the process would take more than he or Mortis could take, and with that last, ignorant little monster, their chances would be gone. It was why they needed a master, why they were so loyal, because masters made them great, made them strong.

Gnarl sighed, his leathery brown brow scrunching in thought. The world outside had changed much, much of the magic was gone from it, what was left had been folded into something new, something that rendered minions almost obsolete, they would need to change, the humans controlled fire and lightning like never before. The very rock of the earth was their play thing. They would need much knowledge to be able to bring the dark domain forth again, let alone the minions.

He sighed, he'd have to send Stench out. Stench would have the best chance of gathering any scraps of information they needed, despite his smell. Gnarl sighed, they'd have to bathe him. Stench would cover them all with water before the day was out, and likely cover them all in more filth than they could imagine.

He enjoyed _harmless_ chaos far too much to be healthy.

* * *

Stench moved through the tunnels, standing back as Grubby dug them and shored them up, to accommodate the pack he carried. When the brown moved out of the way, the green minion poked his head from the small heap of dirt that they'd disguised the tunnel with before quickly moving to a building that had seen better days. His body hid itself as he looked around, many of these buildings had seen better days, they looked untended. He smiled as he started the work of several nights, searching through this small section of the larger town for bits of paper, books, anything to give the minions an advantage in this new world. With each note, each book or scroll, he tucked them away looking for more before grabbing a book with strange symbols in some kind of array before making his way back to the den he and the other survivors called home.

* * *

Gnarl tapped his claw against the page as he read, muttering to himself, and looking at the scroll. "This, jutsu, is fire, the reds might be able to use it, if they still lived anyways." he tossed it aside for a moment before pawing open the books, his eyes opening in surprise. "Looks like old elvish, maybe the sage dialect. Horrid language, but soaked in power." He mumbled to Mortis. "I've never had a chance to study it, let alone with a book like this." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "The humans are much stronger, we will need a new master, one being trained in the ways of, 'chakra."

He looked at Stench thoughtfully, "You must return to the surface, find someone, a new master. He must be one of these, ninjas. And hurry, we will need to see about adapting the ancient arts, I have some, ideas."

Stench nodded enthusiastically, happy that he would get to go back to the surface, that he'd have the honor of finding a candidate for the next master.

He thought, and thought, and thought some more as Gnarl called for Giblet. Then he gave it up for a lost cause, he was good at stabbing things in the back, and would leave the thinking for Gnarl, he'd find someone who enjoyed chaos, chaos was always fun.

He sat silently watching the jostling throngs of people, young kids throwing paper shuriken, older academy students disappearing through cleverly hidden holes, doors, and various other access points. In fact, Naruto could swear that one bush hadn't been there a few days ago, and judging by the way people were avoiding it, it had to smell something awful. He turned around, and started to load the balloons into the net he'd made, it wasn't a particularly good net, having been made from ribbons, string, and one particular strand made from tied together spaghetti noodles that were now hard and falling apart. Still it didn't have to be good, he just needed it to hold while he pulled the inner tubes tight, and besides, he'd have to leave it behind anyways.

He smiled as the net launched it's payload above the street and the balloons rained down on the people, a kaleidoscope of colors ranging from blood-red to sunshine yellow, painted the masses even as several ninjas reacted automatically to rip apart the balloons with a hail of shuriken, kunai, and some items he had no idea what they were.

"Hahaha! "Take that! An Uzumaki special! Straight from the future Hokage!" His eyes narrowed for a second as he saw something orange and deformed dart into the bush-that-hadn't-been. Then he noticed the angry looks of ninjas gearing up for a chase, and from those with the tattoos like Kiba's, well, they looked more predatory than usual. Naruto chuckled sheepishly before grabbing a handful of kunai that had landed on the roof and ran through the park behind him.

* * *

Stench stared up at the sky from his hiding place among the bushes and then at himself. His body soaked in orange paint was hardly pleasant, but the chaos and hatred he felt around him made up for it, "He woulds bes a _fun_ master." He shook himself getting as much of the paint off as he could, then started to walk slowly, careful not to brush into anybody. Once on the other side of the street he moved quickly, ducking through the bushes and foliage at the edge of the park. It was large, but the boy smelled of evil, he could find him. He looked around before grabbing a sheet off a clothesline and wiped his face with it. He chuckled at the orange minion face on it before tucking it into his bag and moving through the bushes.

His search took longer than he thought it would, just like the rest of this place strange city, there were many places for something the size of a minion or child to hide. Stench sniffed and in a happy mood let off a noxious green gas before slowly clawing his way up a tree, he looked into the top of the tree and barely saw green and brown ropes stretched between the branches.

"Ugh, what's that smell?"

Stench took a moment to sniff himself. Yes, he did still stink from that horrid bar they scrubbed him with. He looked up again. "Maybe master?"

Naruto jolted from the light doze he'd entered while waiting for the search to die down. "Huh, wha?" He looked around right before he felt something small and pointy poke between the strands of his net. He cursed silently and looked down for the ninja that was no doubt about to drag him towards the old man's office. When he saw the green demon like face staring at him, he did his best to jump back, the strands tightening around his foot and tripping him as he fell out of it all together, his last thought before his head collided with a branch on the way down, "The fuck was th-?"

Stench looked down the tree at the boy laying underneath it, climbed down, and started to drag it towards an entrance to the strange and delightfully fragrant tunnels that ran all over the city. "_What those bes again? Sewes?" _

Stench shrugged and continued pulling the boy behind him.

* * *

Naruto rolled over, trying to ignore the insistent poking on his forehead. "Are you sure Stench? I suppose he does smell of evil, but he seems a bit on the short side for an overlord."

"Maybe master wants to rule, runs fast and hides well, like greens. I's sure he's ninja."

Naruto mumbled tiredly from behind closed eyes as he ignored the strange way they spoke. "Not a ninja yet, still in the academy. And I don't _want_ to be a hokage, I _will_ be."

Gnarl looked at the semi-concussed boy silently laying on the stone shelf cut into the wall of the den. The one that usually held the few items Gnarl had managed to keep throughout his years of both successful and failed overlords and their destroyed lairs. On the one hand, the pure durium behind that last statement was impressive, the child meant it. He wanted to rule, he wanted power, and he was willing to work for it. On the other hand, he was puny. "Decisions decisions." His clawed toe tapped as he thought before he pointed to Mortis. "Heal him. We'll see whether or not he's worthy as he grows." he muttered as he turned back towards the scrolls and books collected from the abandoned buildings.

Mortis nodded silently as he placed his webbed hand on the boys brow and let a little of the magic that he still commanded flow through his palm before jerking back, "Hellfire!" he spat gleefully as Gnarl turned to him quickly.

"You're sure?" Gnarl asked, his eyes lighting up with barely suppressed joy as Mortis laid his hand back on him.

Mortis concentrated a moment before looking back to Gnarl and shook his head. "No, not hellfire, something, different, but powerful, evil."

Gnarl looked at him silently. "There hasn't been been an overlord with that in him since I was very young indeed. Can it be used to reforge the ancient objects?"

Mortis looked to his old friend. "Maybe, but he will need to learn the hard way. Perhaps he will be stronger for it. Though it would take many sacrifices."

Gnarl nodded, his ears flapping as he did. "Aye, without the heart we have withered, the power of an overlord will return some of our strength, but a true heart, forged anew from the life blood of an army and the power of the Overlord would serve us well."

Gnarl smiled as he began to scheme.

* * *

Naruto began to stir on the slave, the hard stone uncomfortable against his skin, Naruto thought for a moment groggily before deciding it was more like patches of skin. "Dammit, what happened to my coat." He sat up, ignoring his surroundings as he pulled off the top of the orange suit and examined it, not only were there holes, but it was dirty and streaked with things he really didn't want to think about. "Well, this is done."

"Indeed Master, though I did take the liberty of having some things prepared for you."

Naruto looked up, his eyes focused on the dim light in the cave around him before he found the source of the voice and slammed into the alcove behind him. "WHAT THE HELL?" The brown, thing, cocked it's head and stared at him.

"Master, there's no need to panic, I am Gnarl, your loyal minion."

"Loyal minion? How the hell can you be my loyal minion, I don't even know you! What the fuck are you?"

Gnarl looked at Naruto like he was particularly dim-witted. Which if Naruto was fair and considered his grades, he _might_ admit wasn't _entirely_ wrong. "Like I said, I'm a minion, _your_ minion, and master of all minions in the absence of our master. We have been alone for a very long time, waiting patiently in the shadows for a new overlord. And we have chosen you."

Naruto looked at the brown thing with a glowing crystal hanging above his head and inched a bit off the shelf, his feet hitting the floor. "Why me? What did I do?"

"Nothing, but we need to start somewhere. Maybe you'll manage, maybe you won't. But without a new overlord we will die. We need a new overlord, and we need life force to spawn anew. And those few of us left are too valuable to sacrifice to make new hives. And even then, we have no reds."

Naruto stared at him. "What do you mean, hives, reds, and sacrifice, what are you talking about?"

Gnarl nodded. "Forgive me our would-be lord. We minions are born from hives. There are four types, the brown minions like myself are the fighters, we hold much strength and ability to adapt to new weapons, though I am old and more learned. The reds are physically very weak, but can unleash powerful fire attacks. The greens who you met are great assassins and prefer to fight from ambush. Then there are the blue, the only minions who can swim and weakest of all minions, but they are powerful healers. Anyways, the hives can be forged from minions with the right rituals and enough power, but there are only three of us brown, a single blue, and Stench the green. I _suppose_ we could sacrifice stench, but I'd rather not be rid of him, his abilities are, unique amongst the greens."

Naruto stared at him. "What?"

Gnarl hung his head and pinched the flesh between his eyes. "Such a wonderful choice Stench." He looked back up at Naruto, "I will explain in time master. For now, we shall attempt to equip you and return you to your home. Once we were born of magic, but it has changed, become something new, so we will need your help to learn about 'chakra. The more I learn, the more I will be able to help you build our kingdom. With the help of our forge master Giblet, we have reforged some ancient relics for this new time. Here." He said as he handed a bundle of leather and metal to Naruto.

"This vest is armored for your protection. The plates shall protect you from most hits, and the leather is not stiff enough to prevent you from taking advantage of the agility of your kind." Gnarl watched as he pulled the leather and metal on over his shirt and looked at it critically. "Hmm, you'll need to grow into it a bit." He said as he eyed the three plates on either side of it hang a bit lower than they intended. He motioned for Stench who walked forward and strapped an armored plate to his right forearm, and then over to his left, both were intricate, but where the right had a minion's face on it, the left had a glowing jewel.

"That jewel will gather the life force of creatures that die, while your minions will attempt to gather it for you. But before that, you must gather some on your own. We need you to do this for us master. I will send Stench with you, the two of you can hunt together. It will take a bit of time, but soon we may gather you a proper horde for your use. "

"A horde, what's that?"

Gnarl looked at him amused. "Large groups of minions can be, difficult to control, once we had artifacts to keep them reigned in, you will have to build a connection to them as the first overlords did." Gnarl watched as two metal shin guards were attached by Stench before nodding. "And last but not least, the mask. Once it was a full helmet, but again, we have reforged it. now it is, something else." Gnarl muttered before he began to slip the black hood over his head, His forehead and cheeks felt cool through the cloth from the metal against it and he looked into a piece of glass that Gnarl held up.

His face wasn't quite hidden, but the shadows caused by the shape of the mask added an almost sinister element to it. It was then he examined the metal itself. The plate on his head bulged outward slightly, five protrusion poking out, the smallest set on the outside, slightly larger on on the set between them, and the middle one even bigger, two metals pieces framed his face and extended past the edges of the black cloth. There was little doubt in Naruto's mind that if he headbutted somebody, they'd feel it. "What if I don't want to be your master?" He asked softly.

Gnarl looked at him closely. "Stench told me of your claim, that you would be Hokage. For you to lead, others must follow. And this is one of the reasons you were chosen master. We are but your humble servants. Will you accept us?"

Naruto looked at him for a second before closing his eyes. "When do we start?"

Gnarl grinned.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto stared at the clock on the wall, watching it tick, tick, tick. His mind was blank, except for one thing. _"Ramen, ramen, ramen. He's taking forever, ramen."_ His stomach growled. He'd sent Stiches out an hour ago. Naruto rested his head against the cold counter as he thought over the events of the last six months.

He and Stench had spent every night outside for a week hunting and trapping animals. The days of course were still spent at the academy, which was where the first of many surprises showed up. Gnarl had forgotten to tell him something about his new headwear. Like the fact he could _fucking talk through it!_

_Naruto sat with his head supported on his palm. Everything was so boring. The lecture he was listening to was way above his head, the fact he'd signed up for this class on advancing his general knowledge of chakra had been a shock, not quite the same shock as when he showed up at school in his new outfit sans his orange pants ,(which just felt uncomfortable under his shin guards) but definitely a shock, but it had been worth it. Iruka had been so happy that Naruto had started taking his lessons seriously he'd taken him out for a bowl or six of ramen. _

_His attention wasn't entirely on the lesson in jutsu manipulation. If the instructor could have just dumbed it down a smidge he'd have found it one of the most useful lessons he ever had. The ability to take a normal jutsu and change it's affects in different ways would have been great. Imagine making a solid clone! Or using the substitution jutsu as a way to move around. Or even transforming his body into a perfect genetic copy of a woman, wait, where did that last one come from?_

_"Ooh, very interesting, so many possibilities master. Can you imagine what we could do with this?"_

_"Gah!" Naruto screamed as he looked around while the rest of the class (who mostly consisted of actual genin and, was that a chuunin hiding up there?) stared at him. "Sorry, sorry." He scrunched down in his seat still looking around. "Gnarl?" he whispered. "Where are you?" _

_The aged minion chuckled. "Ah, I see I forgot to mention that. The hood you wear was forged from the minion helmet. It allows me to see and hear what happens around you so that I may advise you better. I do apologize master, but, how else was I going to learn about your world?"_

_Naruto thought for a moment. "I thought I'd tell you?" he asked hesitantly._

_He could almost feel Gnarl's amusement as he asked. "And how much of what the man said did you understand?"_

_Naruto sat quietly before answering the only way he could. "Shut up."_

And that was only the beginning, the hunting he'd done originally had netted him six new minions. Two of the brown newborns had quickly been co-opted by Gnarl and Grubby for the digging team. With their help they'd started to carve a new cavern within the Hokage monument, a base of operations for the minions, but with the help of the newborns innate need to kill things the cavern had quickly filled to capacity, meaning a new and bigger one was currently being carved. As such hunting had stopped for the next few days as the various browns were taught to build instead of smash. And of course there were the tunnels. Once the cavern was finished the dig team had started work on tunnels that criss crossed the village and had entrances and exits concealed in all sorts of strange places. Whenever Naruto needed a minion for something, one was always close by. And then of course there was how the Ichiraku's reacted to Naruto's new friends.

_Naruto sat on his favorite stool at Ichiraku's quietly, which, as anyone who knew Naruto would tell you, was just unnatural. Ayame leaned over the counter top to press a hand against his head. It wouldn't be the first time he came to their stand when he should have been in bed. "Aww, what's wrong Naruto, what's eating you?"_

_Naruto flinched, he wouldn't be surprised if the minions actually __did __eat him. They were strange that way. "Oh, nothing Ayame, just a weird couple of days." He smiled up at her before he noticed that all-pervading stench. Ayame blanched._

_"Naruto! Did you eat rotten sushi again?" Naruto hit his head off the counter. "Dammit, not now." That was when Ayame's father ran out of the backroom with a cleaver as he chased something that slammed into Ayame's legs before a knife disappeared. Naruto reacted instantly jumping over the counter and backhanded empty air. Stench hit the wall dazed. "Never touch them!"_

_Stench quivered in fear, (at least Naruto hoped it was fear) when he gave the order. "Yes master, as you say master. Theys be under the Overlord's protection." He turned invisible and moved out of the stand quickly. Ayame stared at where Stench had vanished and then back to Naruto, a smile on her face._

Since that incident the Ichirakus had formed an uneasy peace with the minions. Well, the browns at least, Stench wasn't allowed anywhere near the stand. The smell of rot and decay didn't really mesh well with the civilian appetites. (Strangely enough, the two times he had shown up the ninjas acted unaffected, and he was pretty sure the key word there was _acted_.) The fact was that the minions occassionally came in themselves through a tunnel dug in the store room to either bring ramen for Naruto, or for themselves.

Naruto didn't bother to ask where they were getting the money (since he didn't really want to know) and the Ichiraku's had more or less shrugged the strange creatures off as a summoning contract, which had sent Gnarl on a quest of research that hadn't really born any fruit yet.. Especially since Naruto had more or less forbidden Gnarl from stealing what he needed. Stench still seemed annoyed with how much the minion master used him as a gopher.

Naruto stood up as he heard a scratching in his walls that signalled Stitches' return. The horrifying little creature opened the trap door Naruto had made into the crawl space between floors, well, crawlspace for a minion anyways. He pushed the containers into Naruto's waiting hands as he crawled out. Stitches' name was well deserved. He was the first new minion born, and he'd had an unfortunate run in with a cat soon after. The wounds had been sewn shut and nobody had ever bothered to remove the sutures since Stitches hadn't complained. The fact that the cat was now a cloak with attached hood had ceased bothering Naruto months ago. What did bother him was the cat's collar that was still around Stitch's waist. (So far it had made an excellent belt.)

"What took you so long?" Naruto briefly wondered if he shouldn't be a little nicer, but given the little monsters didn't seem to care one way or the other he didn't give it much thought.

"I's sorry master, many peoples at the stand and you tell us to stay unnoticed."

Naruto nodded for a moment. The last thing he needed was for anybody else to see them. He was lucky the Ichirakus were his friends and willing to keep it secret. "Gnarl, how are the digging crews doing?" Naruto started eating as he listened to Gnarl's report through his connection.

The answer from the brown came slowly. "Ah, yes. They go well sire. Today the diggers broke into a large room. It appears to have been made and sealed off, it's quite large and will make excellent barracks for your minions. Unless you take to spawning en masse, we should be fine for awhile, I am also pleased to tell you there were furnishings we were able to salvage, we're already preparing the old caverns as your personal apartments. You'll need them when you take your first mistress."

Naruto choked as his ramen sprayed across the room.

Naruto sat as his desk with his head down, his head pounding. Trying to keep the minions in line when they were with him was hard. At most he could control two, the rest were too easily distracted with shiny things and mayhem, rather like small children. While Gnarl had done some research on a way to bind them closer to his will, it was slow going without the old totems he'd told his master about. Their function had been simple. They connected the minions and his will, the more pieces of it, the stronger the link was. Unfortunately, like the tower heart, the great pillars, and the spell stones they were lost.

"How the heck am I supposed to do this?"

"Do what?" Naruto jerked suddenly very much aware he was next to Shikamaru, the smartest and laziest kid he'd ever met. Though Sakura came a close second on the smartest scale. Hell, maybe he could use it. "I have a problem that's an awful lot like herding cats. Got any ideas on how to keep them under control?"

Naruto probably shouldn't have been surprised when Shikamaru's one word answer was, "leashes."

Naruto mumbled, "yeah, sure. Thanks a lot."

Shikamaru looked over at his blonde companion. He had been acting very differently recently. _"He's been acting weird, maybe I should investigate. Nah, too troublesome." _With that Shikamaru put Naruto out of his mind and went to sleep.

"Sire, when you're done please, come to the mountain, we've prepared your magnificence an entrance, we look forward to showing you the beginnings of your new domain."

Naruto nodded. "Of course Gnarl." right before a piece of chalk hit him in the head.

"No talking in class! Detention."

"Dammit."

* * *

Naruto headed towards the Hokage monument, being careful to amble, ambling was always good. If you didn't look like you were on a mission people tended to ignore you more. He caught a whiff of something nasty right before a slightly better smell went off and people started rushing from the streets. Naruto took it as a chance to move quickly and sped up towards the monument. _"I'll have to have a word with Stench again, I never should have shown him how to make a stink bomb."_

Naruto smiled as the monument came into view and started to look around for some sign of the entrance, though to be honest, he'd done his job well with teaching them how to make hidden doors. It was one of his best skills, after all, how else do you disappear in a village full of grown ninja.

Naruto sighed as he moved between trees at the bottom of the monument before blinking. Hung in a tree was a white sheet, or part of it anyways, that had an orange minion face on it. He smiled for a moment. "I like it." He said as he moved closer to it and spotted the brown who thought he was so cleverly disguised as a bush. "Lead on Gren."

The brown that covered itself in branches, leaves, and a single bird nailed to one of the branches, started to move away. Gren was weird, he was obsessed with Stench and the greens' ability to hide, and he practiced his camouflage abilities everywhere he went. It was really too bad that he sucked at them. Gnarl had even suggested they make him the new jester at one point, though Naruto didn't understand why, he wasn't particularly funny.

Gren led him a small distance away after grabbing the sheet, and straight towards a boulder. He smiled even as he inserted a single claw underneath the stone and started to lift. Naruto gaped for a second as a cave entrance was revealed before hesitantly heading inwards, it was then he noticed the weights on either side of the cave that were doing the bulk of the work of lifting the boulder. He turned to Gren who smiled, or grimaced, or sneered. It was hard to tell with something that had so many teeth.

Two browns in helmets stepped forward, smacked Gren for leaving the door open, and pushed the weights back up, dropping the boulder door. Gnarl stepped out of an alcove formed into the rock. "Welcome Sire, to the barracks. "

Naruto nodded absently at Gnarl while looking at the door. "Impressive work."

Gnarl followed Naruto's gaze. "Ahh, that. While I wish we could take credit for it, I cannot. The tunnel had caved in, and while clearing it of debris we found this. We had to replace a few pieces, but I rather like it. Now come, let me show you to the barracks and your chambers." Gnarl said as he turned around and moved up the tunnel.

Naruto continued to look at the door before following Gnarl through the caves into something he instantly recognized as he looked at the alcoves carved into the wall."Hey, this is one of the civilian bunkers!"

Gnarl looked for him, "The civilian what sire?"

Naruto looked at him. "Civilian bunker. In case of an attack genin are shown bunkers hidden around Konoha to evacuate civilians to. The tunnel probably collapsed sometime between wars."

Gnarl nodded his head. "That would explain things sire. There were much preserved food, though most of it was rotten, your minions quite enjoyed it."

Naruto blanched at the thought of eating rotten rations. That stuff tasted horrible to begin with, he could only imagine what they'd be like if they actually turned bad. "You've been busy."

"More so than you know sire. Come, I wish you to see what will be the core of your domain." With that Gnarl turned and led to a large basin that once would have held water for the bunker. "This master is a solution I've prepared for the growth of a crystal, a new heart. The old one was consumed in the old days, it's magic drained until it was nothing but a hunk of rock, and even that was smashed in an attempt to keep us from reviving it. There was no way to restore it, but now we have new hope. Right now any crystal that formed within that vat would be nothing more than something pretty to look at. It needs more to become a true Heart. It needs life and power, I must harmonize it so that life force lost within it's range will be absorbed and for that I will need your jewel. Harmonizing it will also allow it to draw some from you as it grows."

Naruto was surprised for a minute that he understood what the old minion was talking about. Must have been those extra classes. "But, chakra exhaustion can be deadly, if it's absorbing my chakra how am I suppose to fight?"

Gnarl nodded. "The drain _should_ be minimal sire. It would take much life force for it to grow quickly enough for you to notice. I would imagine it as the work of several years before it's grown much larger than a rock."

Naruto nodded and unstrapped the armband before handing it to Gnarl. The minion nodded as he took it towards the basin and submerged the jewel, carefully placing it in the center of a circle of symbols. "Come sire. You will need to focus your chakra through it to complete the process."

Naruto hesitantly walked over and looked at the red fluid filling the basin, the only thing that didn't remind him of blood was it's smell, the seemingly thin liquid bulged in the place the jewel sat. "So, Gnarl, heh, this is some kind of ancient ritual with no side effects right?" he asked nervously.

Gnarl cocked his head and thought for a moment. "Not really sire. This will only be the third. The first was an obelisk made of stone so dark it would never shine, no matter how much we polished it. We never did learn of it's origins. It was lost in a great upheavel where it fell into a river of fire in the depths of the earth. We probably shouldn't have built our lair so close to a volcano, but the island was well protected."

Naruto looked at him awkwardly. "And the second?"

Gnarl looked back to the liquid. "It was forged from pure magic by a sage who became indebted and _friendly _with a previous overlord, well, overlady I should say. But either way we have no technique for creating a heart. Truthfully, I've no idea what might happen. It's rather exciting."

Naruto stared at Gnarl. "And if I die?"

The minion master smiled. "Then we find a new overlord, just as we have always done, and your sacrifice will be remembered. for a couple of years anyways." He added in a silent voice.

"What was that?"

"Nothing sire. Please proceed, just place a finger on the gem and channel your chakra."

Naruto shook his head as he did what was asked and started to push his energy into the crystal. He watched in amazement as the red liquid began to churn and heave, bubbles forming and vanishing within it. It soon began to glow a small darkness appeared next to the armband.

"Enough master. That should do."

Naruto sighed in relief as he dropped where he stood, the symbols blazing with a yellow light. Gnarl pulled a small metal rod from his cloak and pushed at the dark object before smiling again. "Perhaps it might not take as long as I feared. The crystal has already started forming." He nodded his head. "Giblet Stench, help the master to his chambers. I will speak to him once he's rested."

The two nodded and pulled Naruto to his feet before carrying him into his new chambers. His jaw dropped, for what had once been a simple cavern was now, luxurious. Four statues of minions stood at each corner of an overly large bed draped in fur blankets made from something he couldn't identify. Each statue held a glowing stone of a different color above it's head. One with fins was holding a blue light, one he recognized as Stench held a green. Gnarl himself stood at a third point with his yellow crystal blazing above him, and one with cracks in it's stone skin held a red gem. In addition to this each wall had been shaped to a normal if expensive home with everything even. There was even a desk carved out of the wall with a matching seat in front of it.

And he smiled. _Having minions does come with some nice perks._

_A/N I have two reviews I wish to answer, one, I got on this chapter and decided to add a note for here, and the second is from a guest of the first, One. I will not be bashing Sakura or Sasuke. Sasuke might still end up evil, but I don't know, as for pairings, sakura may or may not end up with him, but Hinata, that's almost a guarantee, she's his stalker in a crossover that includes mistresses. I haven't fully decided yet._

_To the guest, While I did like the idea of using the uchiha massacre to recreate the heart, this is sadly, post massacre and between a year or two before the start of the series. But keep up your ideas, and thanks for reading._


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